A school-record score on floor exercise wasn’t enough to vault the Illini men’s gymnastics team to the top in Friday’s NCAA Championships in Pennsylvania.

The team’s pommel horse performance, their last event on the night and a whole point lower than yesterday’s season high, knocked the Illini out of competition for the top three spots.

Led by Wes Haagensen’s 9.600 on floor and 9.650 on high bar, the Illini (217.300) finished fifth behind Penn State (221.000), Oklahoma (220.200), Stanford (218.450), and Michigan (218.400).

Excited at the opportunity to battle in the finals, the Illini set a season-high score for the second day in a row following yesterday’s qualifying session.

The individual event finals, featuring several Illini, will be held on Saturday.

The Illini’s floor exercise score, a school-record 38.450, led all teams in the competition and punctuated the final team meet of the season for the Illini. Led by an exciting freshmen class and a strong junior showing (there are no seniors on the squad) the Illini shot out of the gates on rings (37.200), moved to vault in the second rotation (35.500), and competed on parallel bars (35.600) before peaking on the floor exercise.